More BitTorrent Suits in Houston Federal Court (UPDATED 8/10/17)

Several notorious BitTorrent “troll-style” plaintiffs have enlarged their national litigation scheme to include suits against scores of “Doe” defendants in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division.

A new case was filed by CELL Film Holdings, LLC, which claims copyrights to the John Cusack/Samuel L. Jackson zombie-themed movie Cell. As noted by Troll Defense in a post on similar Oregon CELL Film Holdings cases, Cell is based on a 2006 Stephen King novel of the same title about a signal sent out over the global cell phone network that transforms every cell phone user into a mindless killer.

CELL Film Holdings is an affiliate of Benaroya Pictures. As predicted earlier in a Troll Defense post, the Cell lawsuits confirm Benaroya’s foray into a national, multi-title “troll-style” lawsuit campaign, along wither earlier cases involving Queen of The Desert.

Another action was lodged by September Productions Inc., which holds rights in the 2015 film Septembers in Shiraz, described by Variety as an “autobiographically inspired tale of a wealthy Jewish family in Tehran suffering under Iran’s shift to fundamentalist Islam.”

UPDATE (5/19/17): More recently, additional cases were filed by ME2 Productions, Inc. As Troll Defense reported before, ME2 Productions, Inc. has rights in the 2016 action thriller Mechanic: Resurrection, which stars Jessica Alba and Jason Stratham. The film’s predecessor, The Mechanic, was also the subject of prior BitTorrent lawsuits.

Another case was brought in the name of I.T. Productions, LLC. As previously reported, I.T. Productions holds rights in the 2016 film, I.T., a “techno-thriller” starring Pierce Brosnan. I.T. Productions is an affiliate of Voltage Pictures, LLC, the instigator of countless other BitTorrent lawsuits involving film titles such as Dallas Buyers Club, Good Kill, The Cobbler, Fathers & Daugthers, Pay the Ghost, and TheHurt Locker.

UPDATE (8/10/17): Yet more cases were recently filed by UN4 Productions, Inc. As Troll Defense has reported, UN4 Productions owns rights in the 2016 action flick Boyka: Undisputed, also known as Undisputed IV, which stars Scott Adkins as an MMA fighter grappling with the fallout from an accidental death in the ring.

As reported elsewhere, UN4 Productions, September Productions and ME2 Productions are affiliates of Nu Image / Millennium Films, which hold interests in films that have been the subject of ongoing and prior enforcement actions, including London Has Fallen, Criminal, Automata, The Humbling, The Expendables, Charlie Countryman and Bad Lieutenant.

The new lawsuits each allege copyright infringement by unknown “Doe” parties through their use of BitTorrent file-sharing software. The cases seek statutory damages pursuant to the Copyright Act, attorney’s fees and costs, and an injunction against further infringement.

Like other similar BitTorrent lawsuits filed in the same District Court, these more recent Southern District filings were each made by Houston attorneys Joshua S. Wyde and/or Gary J. Fischman. Case listings with links to complaints are below.

Troll Defense

About

Benjamin Justus is one of the few attorneys in the nation who has for years represented individuals, families and businesses that have been sued or threatened with suit for alleged internet-based copyright infringement by various owners of intellectual property in films, music, photographs and other works. He has assisted hundreds of parties who have been involved in such claims. His practice is expanding to include other aspects of liability arising from internet activities, including trademark infringement, defamation, and circumvention of protective technologies.